Finished Creatine cycle, what will happen?

[Big Natural]

Just finished my first 2 month Creatine cycle and I was wondering what will exactly happen?

Will my strength subdue much? Will I lose water that makes me look more cut? Will I lose endurance? Does Creatine store water around muscles too?

I was also wondering how long I should take off in between cycles? The dude at the supplement shop told me a month is enough for cellreceptors to upgrade.

Can anyone elaborate on this?

Thank you in advance!

[NaturalMsO]

You will likely lose a some weight (mostly water) and some strength. I generally recommend cycling with creatine four to eight weeks on, four weeks off. But that's just me. You will get a lot of opinions here. There are some people who do even cycles (four weeks on, four weeks off; or eight weeks on, eight weeks off; etc.), and there are other people who never cycle off; they take it every day for an indefinite amount of time.

Good luck,
Natural Ms. Olympia

[Big Natural]

Thanks for the tips Misses O!

Woa miss natural Olympia just helped me with my Creatine question . Something to brag about in the gym .

[NaturalMsO]

Anytime, Big Natural. And good luck with your gains.

Natural Ms. Olympia

[PowerSwede]

Just finished my first 2 month Creatine cycle and I was wondering what will exactly happen?

Will my strength subdue much? Will I lose water that makes me look more cut? Will I lose endurance? Does Creatine store water around muscles too?

I was also wondering how long I should take off in between cycles? The dude at the supplement shop told me a month is enough for cellreceptors to upgrade.

Can anyone elaborate on this?

Thank you in advance!

There is no such thing as a creatine receptor so downgrade is impossible, there are transporters but there is no evidence that there is a downgrade with these transporters if you use creatine continously.

IOW, there is no need to cycle creatine, i have been on creatine for years without ever going off it and i don't plan to go off creatine either.

You will lose cell hydration and strenght rapidly and if you stay off it eventually all gains made from creatine will be gone.

[Big Natural]

Hm so I will become a skinny bastard again?

I'll keep a log to see what changes and what happens when I start on creatine again.

I also plan on doing 1 week off of training since I trained very hard for 3 months without a week rest.

[pu12en12g]

1) There is no need to cycle or load creatine. It's OPTIONAL

2) IF you choose to cycle / load creatine... loading for 3 days and then taking 3 days off appears to be the most logical.

[The Unforsaken]

You will lose cell hydration and strenght rapidly and if you stay off it eventually all gains made from creatine will be gone.

If this is true, then what is the point in ever doing creatine at all?

[PowerSwede]

If this is true, then what is the point in ever doing creatine at all?

I've gone over how and why it happens in another thread, it doesn't matter where the external stimuli comes from, once it is gone the results will go away, it doesn't matter whether the external stimuli comes from steroids, hgh, creatine or any other supplement or even training itself.

What's the point of working out? Once you stop the results will go away.

Don't stop, that's the alternative.

[pu12en12g]

if you stay off it eventually all gains made from creatine will be gone.

This is not entirely accurate.

For example, if creatine helped you increase strength by 5% and you supplemented with creatine from 2004-2005, when you get off the creatine, you aren't going to eventually "lose" the muscle mass that creatine INDIRECTLY helped you gain (by lifting 5% heavier).

[Big Natural]

Yes put stopping creatine isn't the same as stopping training, ofcourse stopping training is gonna make it dissapear but if you give your body some time to get over creatine the new impulse you will get once you start training again should put you over your training plataue without creatine right? At least this is what I read and heard so I think I am gonna stick with it. Creatine is still too pricey for me this month (poor as college student) so I'll start again in june .

[BringnIt]

You can get 80 servings of mono. for like $10, if that helps any.

[PowerSwede]

This is not entirely accurate.

For example, if creatine helped you increase strength by 5% and you supplemented with creatine from 2004-2005, when you get off the creatine, you aren't going to eventually "lose" the muscle mass that creatine INDIRECTLY helped you gain (by lifting 5% heavier).

I've debated this before, basically it works like this, two persons lift weight, one uses creatine, now, the first person gains 5lb in six months, the second gains 12, now the second person goes off creatine, ~4lbs is the extra water held by creatine so that is gone within a month, now the first person weighs 5lbs and the second person weighs 8 lbs, so you would say that the net gain from creatine supplementation was 3lb at this point, however, the second person has plateued now that he's off creatine while the first person keeps gaining, six moths after the creatine intake was stopped both persons have gained 10 lbs, net gain from the creatine cycle is 0lbs.

[PowerSwede]

You can get 80 servings of mono. for like $10, if that helps any.

You can get 100 servings for $5 (5g a day, $5/500g).

[gaberox]

I've debated this before, basically it works like this, two persons lift weight, one uses creatine, now, the first person gains 5lb in six months, the second gains 12, now the second person goes off creatine, ~4lbs is the extra water held by creatine so that is gone within a month, now the first person weighs 5lbs and the second person weighs 8 lbs, so you would say that the net gain from creatine supplementation was 3lb at this point, however, the second person has plateued now that he's off creatine while the first person keeps gaining, six moths after the creatine intake was stopped both persons have gained 10 lbs, net gain from the creatine cycle is 0lbs.

That is just another reason creatine cycling is usless.

[pu12en12g]

I've debated this before, basically it works like this,

WRONG.

First of all, you are confusing "gains" with "bodyweight"... there are other errors in that logic above as well, but that is the main one.

[Bill Gates]

there are transporters but there is no evidence that there is a downgrade with these transporters if you use creatine continously.
.

PowerSwede, The longest study I am aware of is the Tarnopolsky study (Tarnopolsky, et al. 2003), is there any longer study on Cr transporters?

[toughnuts]

Also, if you quit training its not like the muscle just "dissapears". I don't know why people think that. Yes you will lose some muscle, but you will most likely keep a good amount too.

[Big Natural]

Hm, anyone has some scientific study links on this topic? I searched some of the fora here but found one contradicting article after the other...

[BringnIt]

"You can get 100 servings for $5 (5g a day, $5/500g)." That doesn't include shipping, though, right? My point was just that it was cheap, I wasn't going by the single lowest price in the world, lol.

[PowerSwede]

WRONG.

First of all, you are confusing "gains" with "bodyweight"... there are other errors in that logic above as well, but that is the main one.

You can use the same example with strenght gains and get the same results.

I'd love to be wrong in this case.

[PowerSwede]

Also, if you quit training its not like the muscle just "dissapears". I don't know why people think that. Yes you will lose some muscle, but you will most likely keep a good amount too.

No, you will gradually lose all muscle you have gained from your weight lifting, your body doesn't keep more muscle than what's absolutely needed for your everyday tasks.

[PowerSwede]

PowerSwede, The longest study I am aware of is the Tarnopolsky study (Tarnopolsky, et al. 2003), is there any longer study on Cr transporters?

I'll have a look at what i got.

[pu12en12g]

the second person has plateued now that he's off creatine while the first person keeps gaining

^^ This is another section of completely flawed logic. There is no indication that creatine causes someone to plateau, or that by NOT taking creatine, you will continue to gain.

I can't emphasize enough, how COMPLETELY flawed the entire example above is. It would be a damn shame for a newbie to read that.

The thing that I DO agree with PowerSwede on, is that there is very little evidence that cycling creatine is "necessary".

[PowerSwede]

^^ This is another section of completely flawed logic. There is no indication that creatine causes someone to plateau.

The result of going off creatine is that you lose strenght and some mass for a period of time, then plateu at that point for a period of time before you start gaining again, i have yet to see anyone going off creatine that continues to gain strenght or mass, well except for the ones using other "supplements".

Creatine itself doesn't cause the plateu, it's your body that does that, removing the extra stimulus from creatine means you stop gaining for a period of time.

[PowerSwede]

^^ This is another section of completely flawed logic. There is no indication that creatine causes someone to plateau, or that by NOT taking creatine, you will continue to gain.

I can't emphasize enough, how COMPLETELY flawed the entire example above is. It would be a damn shame for a newbie to read that.

The thing that I DO agree with PowerSwede on, is that there is very little evidence that cycling creatine is "necessary".

I'd say that it would be a shame for any newbie to think that any gains from any supplement, steroid or whatever anabolic he or she might ingest or inject are permanent because there is no such thing as permanent gains.

If there really were such a thing as permanent gains from creatine then cycling it 1 month on/1 month off would be the best thing since you get most of your gains from creatine when you start taking it.

[pu12en12g]

If there really were such a thing as permanent gains from creatine then cycling it 1 month on/1 month off would be the best thing since you get most of your gains from creatine when you start taking it.

Actually you get the most within the first 3 days, which is why the most logical way to cycle it would be 3 on / 3 off (ASSUMING that you choose to cycle it).

The "gains from creatine" is what needs to be clarified, so that newbies won't get confused. YES you may lose some waterweight when coming off of creatine. THAT IS AFTER THE FACT. Assuming you are a responder and are using the proper dosage, you have been gaining that entire time you were on creatine. The ______% percentage of gains that creatine helped will NOT be lost, because you can't go back in time and lose it.

The only way you would lose these gains is (JUST LIKE ANY OTHER GAINS) to completely stop working out.

[Big Natural]

I am off, let's see how it goes .

[PowerSwede]

Actually you get the most within the first 3 days, which is why the most logical way to cycle it would be 3 on / 3 off (ASSUMING that you choose to cycle it).

The "gains from creatine" is what needs to be clarified, so that newbies won't get confused. YES you may lose some waterweight when coming off of creatine. THAT IS AFTER THE FACT. Assuming you are a responder and are using the proper dosage, you have been gaining that entire time you were on creatine. The ______% percentage of gains that creatine helped will NOT be lost, because you can't go back in time and lose it.

The only way you would lose these gains is (JUST LIKE ANY OTHER GAINS) to completely stop working out.

NO, you see this is where you are completely wrong, you WILL lose those gains from creatine too if you stop taking it, yes, you will lose ALL the gains from your cycle of ANY compound even if you keep working out. It may take years for all of them to go away but eventually they will be gone.

The natural gains you have been making during your cycle will stay with you, the increased gains you got from your cycle will go away since there is no external stimulus that makes your body hold on to it anymore, this is much like training itself, remove the stimulus and your body will return to normal.

Your body always tries to return to normal, to keep muscle mass at a minimum while still being able to perform the tasks you throw at it, going off a cycle of creatine means less strenght, less endurance, longer recovery times between repetitions and sets so you can't work out as hard without going over the edge where working out starts to be counterproductive.

When it comes to "JUST LIKE ALL OTHER GAINS" i am a great example of how that works with steroids, of the 75lbs i gained from steroids 0lbs remain today, even though i have been working out all along, keeping a good diet and used creatine.

[pu12en12g]

of the 75lbs i gained from steroids 0lbs remain today, even though i have been working out all along, keeping a good diet and used creatine.

1) Assuming that is true, it indicates a serious problem.

2) It's sad that you keep confusing "gains" with lbs.

3) YES you may lose some of the LBS you gained with creatine. This is not where the emphasis should be.

4) The strength gains during your creatine cycle cannot be "taken away". They have already occured. They are real strength gains. The weight you lifted was real. The hypertrophy was real.